Ice skate honing tool

ABSTRACT

A pocket-size tool adapted for use in honing ice skate blades and embodying a cylindrical abrasive honing stone and a holder therefor. The radius of the honing stone is slightly less than the radius of the hollow ground curvature of the skate blade to be honed and a guide slot in the holder facilitates application of the blade to the stone so that by a sliding movement of the blade along the stone, coupled with a rocking motion, the entire hollow ground concavity may be honed. Releasable clamping means enables the honing stone to be rotated in the holder for presentation of fresh abrasive surfaces to the blade.

United States Patent [191 Thompson 1 Nov. 25, 1975 1 1 [CE SKATE HONINGTOOL [22] Filed: Sept. 3, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 502,508

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 286,932,Sept. 7, 1972,

4/1953 Baron 5l/205 WG 11/1964 Chattillion 51/205 WG X PrimaryExaminer-Donald G. Kelly Attorney, Agent, or FirmNorman H. Gerlach [57]ABSTRACT A pocket-size tool adapted for use in honing ice skate bladesand embodying a cylindrical abrasive honing stone and a holder therefor.The radius of the honing stone is slightly less than the radius of thehollow ground curvature of the skate blade to be honed and a guide slotin the holder facilitates application of the blade to the stone so thatby a sliding movement of the blade along the stone, coupled with arocking motion, the entire hollow ground concavity may be honed.Releasable clamping means enables the honing stone to be rotated in theholder for presentation of fresh abrasive surfaces to the blade.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures US Patent Nov. 25, 1975 ICE SKATE HONINGTOOL This patent application is a continuation of my original US. patentapplication Ser. No. 286,932, filed on Sept. 7, 1972, now abandoned, andentitled ICE SKATE HONING TOOL.

The improved honing tool comprising the present invention is designedfor use primarily in connection with the honing or finishing of iceskate blades having hollow ground skating edges. More particularly, thepresent honing tool is intended for use in the fine surfacing of skateblades which previously have been coarse ground, or for touching upskate blades which have been used to such a degree that a majorsharpening operation is not required. The invention is, however, notlimited to fine abrasive finishing operations and, if desired, by thesimple expedient of substituting a coarse abrasive honing element, majorskate-sharpening operations of a limited nature may be carried out.

There currently is on the market a pocket-size honing tool which is ofthe same general type as that of the present invention and in which anelongated rod-like abrasive honing stone is encompassed in a tubularcasing which is provided with a longitudinal slot in the wall thereof sothat when an ice skate blade is drawn or pulled longitudinally along theslot, or the slot is worked longitudinally along the blade, the bladeedge rides squarely against the stone so that the entire surface of theconcavity is acted upon during each honing stroke of the tool or of theblade. This is because the radius of the honing stone is precisely equalto the radius of the concavity of the hollow ground skate blade. Incertain such tools, the width of the slot is substantially equal to thethickest skate blade which is expected to be encountered, i.e., a hockeyskate blade, so that when a thinner blade is operated on, actual dullingof the skating edge takes place since no means is provided formaintaining the plane of the blade in a diametric relation relative tothe honing stone at all times. Furthermore, the honing stone ispermanently clamped in the tubular holder so that only a limitedcircumferential area of the stone is available for honing and when sucharea becomes clogged, the tool as a whole must be discarded. In anothertool of this general type, the tubular holder for the cylindrical honingstone is made in two semi-cylindrical half-sections which arespringbiased toward each other and hinged together along a longitudinalline. By manually spreading the two sections apart a slight distance, ablade-receiving slot is formed, the skate blade being inserted into suchslot and the sections released so that the sides of the slot close byspring pressure against the sides of the blades. This releases thehoning stone which then assumes a loose floating condition within thecasing. The blade is then drawn longitudinally through the slot and, todo this, it is necessary to overcome the spring-induced friction whichis exerted by the sides of the slot. The parallel, or nearly parallel,sides of the slot are intended to maintain the plane of the skate bladein a diametric relation with respect to the honing stone but since suchsides are not fixed, any lateral force which may inadvertently beapplied to the skate blade tending to tilt the same results in the samephenomenon set forth above in connection with a permanently clampedhoning stone, namely, that one of the skating edges or corners ispresented directly to the honing stone and is thus dulled instead ofsharpened.

The present invention is designed to overcome the abovenoted limitationsthat are attendant upon the construction and use of present-day iceskate sharpening or honing devices and toward this end, the inventioncontemplates the provision of a relatively simple and inexpensive iceskate honing tool of the concentric hone and holder type as outlinedabove and wherein the holder is in the form of a single one-piece rigidcylindrical tube which is split lengthwise to establish a skateblade-receiving slot. Disposed within and projecting through the holderis a solid cylindrical rod-like honing stone having a radius which isappreciably less than that of the concavity involved in the hollowground skate blade undergoing honing, the honing stone being releasablyclamped by means of a set screw against the inside edges of the slot soas to block or close the slot and establish an abrasive bottomed channelalong which the skate blade is adapted to be slid. The radius of thehoning tool or rod is less than the hollow ground concavity of the skateblade as previously set forth and the width of the slot is wider thanthat of the blade so that each time the blade is drawn along the slot orchannel, the tangential relationship which exists between the concavityand the honing tool or rod causes only a limited longitudinalstripe-like area of the hollow ground concavity to be holed. Thus, byrocking the skate blade laterally in one direction or the other,ultimately after repeated passes of the tool along the blade, the entireconcavity of the hollow ground blade will be brought to a mirror-likehoned condition. I he width of the slot is such that at no time is itpossible to cause the skating edges of the blade to seat squarely on thehoning rod and the net result is that these edges may be brought torazor-like sharpness while any transverse striations which may existwithin the concavity as the result of a prior abrasive sharpeningoperation by a rotary abrasive wheel are eradicated.

Still further, according to the present invention, after a given area ofthe honing tool or rod has become worn or has otherwise lostitsusefulness, it is merely necessary to loosen the set screw in orderto release the rod from its clamped condition against the side edges ofthe slot and then rotate the same in order to prevent a fresh honingsurface for skate blade honing purposes, after which the clamping screwmay be again tightened.

The provision of an ice skate honing tool such as has briefly been setforth above constitutes the principal object of the present invention.

The provision of such a tool which is extremely simple in itsconstruction, consisting as it does of but three component parts,namely, a split tubular holder, a cylindrical honing stone or rod, and amachined set screw, and which may, therefore, be manufactured at a lowcost; one which is small and compact and, therefore, is readily portablein the pocket of a skater; one which is rugged and durable and,therefore, will withstand rough usage; one which requires no particulardegree of skill for its proper operation; and one which otherwise iswell adapted to perform the services required of it, are furtherdesirable features which have been borne in mind in the production anddevelopment of the present invention.

Other objects and advantages of the invention, not at this time setforth, will become readily apparent as the nature of the invention isbetter understood from a consideration of the following detaileddescription.

The invention consists in the several novel features which arehereinafter set forth and are more particularly defined by the claims atthe conclusion hereof.

In the accompanying single sheet of drawings forming a part of thisspecification, one illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown.

In these drawings: I

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ice skate honing tool embodying theprinciples of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken on the verticalplane indicated by the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and in the direction of thearrows;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating the mannerin which the honing stone or rod may be released for readjustmentpurposes; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged dimensionally exaggerated schematic view,illustrating certain phenomena which are involved in connection with theoperation of the tool.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, an ice skate honing toolconstructed according to the present invention is designated in itsentirety by the reference numeral l and is comprised of three componentparts, namely, a rod-like honing stone 12, a surrounding holder 14 forthe stone, and a clamping screw 16 by means of which the honing stonemay be fixedly clamped within the holder in an operative honingposition.

The honing stone 12 is of solid cylindrical construction and iscomprised of a commercially available, relatively fine, abrasivematerial such, for example, as carborundum or the like.

The radius of the honing stone 12 is slightly less than the radius ofthe concavity of a hollow ground ice skate which is to be honed, suchlesser dimension serving a purpose that will be made clear subsequentlywhen the operation of the honing tool is set forth.

The holder 14 may be formed of any suitable material, preferablystainless steel, and it is in the form of a cylindrical tube, the wallof which is formed with a longitudinally extending slot 18 which definesa pair of opposed, spaced apart, planar, parallel, skate blade-confiningfaces or shoulders 20. The circumferential distance between theshoulders 20 is slightly in excess of the thickness of the thickestskate blade which is to be honed and the planes of these two shouldersare equally spaced on opposite sides of a median vertical diametricplane of the cylindrical honing stone 12. As best shown in FIG. 2 of thedrawings, the height or depth of the slot 18 is appreciably greater thanthe width of the slot and this is for the specific reason which ispointed out in detail hereafter. The internal diameter of the holder 14is slightly greater than the external diameter of the abrasive stone 12and its longitudinal extent is less than that of the rod as clearlyshown in FIG. 1 so that, when the rod is projected through the holder,the opposite end regions of the former overhang the annular end faces ofthe latter.

Diametrically disposed from the slot 18 is a tapped hole 22 whichreceives the threaded shank portion 24 of the clamping screw 16, thelatter projecting completely through the wall of the holder 14 andserving fixedly to clamp the honing stone 12 within the holder so thatit bears against the inside edges of the slot 20 and closes the slot andthereby establishes an abrasive bottomed channel as shown in FIG. 1, thechannel having planar parallel sides and a convex channel bottom.

4 A knurled head 26 is provided on the clamping screw 16 in order tofacilitate manipulation of the latter.

In the operation of the herein described ice skate honing tool 10, afterthe tool has been assembled as previously described so as to establishthe abrasive bottomed channel which is defined by the shoulders 20 ofthe slot 18 and the limited area of the periphery of the honing stone 12which is exposed through the slot, skate honing operations are conductedby causing the skate blade to slide with respect to the holder 14 andthe stone 12 longitudinally through the slot 18. This may be readilyaccomplished by holding the skate blade stationary and sliding the toolalong the blade in the usual manner of manipulating skate-sharpeningdevices of a similar nature.

As schematically illustrated in FIG. 4, since the radius of the honingstone 12 is less than that of the hollow ground concavity of a skateblade such as the blade B, only a limited area or stripe which extendslongitudinally along the concavity will be honed during any given passof the tool along the blade. However, by rocking the skate bladeangularly from side to side as illustrated in dotted lines in FIG. 4,and making repeated passes of the tool along the blade, the entire areaof the concavity may be progressively honed.

The dotted line positions of the skate blade B in FIG. 4 represent thetwo extreme angularly inclined positions within the slot 18 of which theblade is capable of assuming. It is to be particularly noted from aninspection of FIG. 2 that because of the relatively great depth of theslot 18, as compared to its width which is relatively small, in neitherof these two angularly inclined positions does the extreme outer comeredge of the blade bear against the periphery of the stone 12 at an anglewhich is not acceptable for proper skate-sharpening purposes. Statedotherwise, at no time does either side face of the skate blade extend ina diametric plane of the stone 12 and there is never any relationshipbetween the skate blade concavity and the periphery of the hone stone 12other than a tangential relationship.

The invention is not to be limited to the exact arrangement of partsshown in the accompanying drawings or described in this specification asvarious changes in the details of construction may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore,only insofar as the invention is particularly pointed out in theaccompanying claims is the same to be limited.

I claim:

1. A honing tool adapted abrasively to hone the concavity in the hollowground skating edge of an ice skate blade of predetermined thickness,said honing tool comprising an elongated cylindrical rod-like honingstone, an elongated tubular holder having said stone extendinglongitudinally therethrough and having an internal cylindrical wallsurface the diameter of which is appreciably greater than that of thestone, said holder being provided therein with a longitudinallyextending, full length slot of a width slightly greater than that of theskate blade which is to honed, said slot being designed for longitudinalsliding reception of the skate blade, said slot presenting a pair ofplanar, opposed, parallel side faces which are equally spaced from amedial diametric plane of the cylindrical honing stone, the depth ofsaid slot being appreciably greater than the width of the slot, thelongitudinal extent of said honing stone being appreciably greater thanthat of the holder and the former projecting completely through thelatter so that its opposite end regions overhang the end faces of theholder, and releasable clamping means bearing against the outercylindrical side of said cylindrical honing stone, and serving to forcethe latter against the inner edges of said slot, thereby closing theslot and establishing an abrasive bottomed, blade-receiving channelhaving its side surfaces defined by the opposed side faces of the slotand a convex bottom defined by the intervening portion of the peripheryof the honing stone, the radius of curvature of said honing stone beingless than that of the concavity of the hollow ground skating edge of theblade, and the dimensional relationship between the width and depth ofsaid channel and the thickness of the skate blade being such thatlimited side-to-side rocking movement of the blade in the channel duringskate sharpening operations is permitted to occur while at the same timethe intervening portion of the honing stone is, in all skate sharpeningpositions, positively confined to abrasive contact with the hollowground skating edge variously in the medial positions of the latterwithout possible contact of said intervening portion of the stone withthe adjacent side corners or edges of the skate blade.

2. A honing tool as set forth in claim 1 and wherein the holder isprovided with a tapped hole at a region which is diametrically disposedfrom the slot and is substantially midway between the ends of theholder, and the releasable clamping means is in the form of a screwwhich is threadedly received in the tapped hole and projectsdiametrically into the interior of the holder.

1. A honing tool adapted abrasively to hone the concavity in the hollowground skating edge of an ice skate blade of predetermined thickness,said honing tool comprising an elongated cylindrical rod-like honingstone, an elongated tubular holder having said stone extendinglongitudinally therethrough and having an internal cylindrical wallsurface the diameter of which is appreciably greater than that of thestone, said holder being provided therein with a longitudinallyextending, full length slot of a width slightly greater than that of theskate blade which is to honed, said slot being designed for longitudinalsliding reception of the skate blade, said slot presenting a pair ofplanar, opposed, parallel side faces which are equally spaced from amedial diametric plane of the cylindrical honing stone, the depth ofsaid slot being appreciably greater than the width of the slot, thelongitudinal extent of said honing stone being appreciably greater thanthat of the holder and the former projecting completely through thelatter so that its opposite end regions overhang the end faces of theholder, and releasable clamping means bearing against the outercylindrical side of said cylindrical honing stone, and serving to forcethe latter against the inner edges of said slot, thereby closing theslot and establishing an abrasive bottomed, blade-receiving channelhaving its side surfaces defined by the opposed side faces of the slotand a convex bottom defined by the intervening portion of the peripheryof the honing stone, the radius of curvature of said honing stone beingless than that of the concavity of the hollow ground skating edge of theblade, and the dimensional relationship between the width and depth ofsaid channel and the thickness of the skate blade being such thatlimited sidE-to-side rocking movement of the blade in the channel duringskate sharpening operations is permitted to occur while at the same timethe invervening portion of the honing stone is, in all skate sharpeningpositions, positively confined to abrasive contact with the hollowground skating edge variously in the medial positions of the latterwithout possible contact of said intervening portion of the stone withthe adjacent side corners or edges of the skate blade.
 2. A honing toolas set forth in claim 1 and wherein the holder is provided with a tappedhole at a region which is diametrically disposed from the slot and issubstantially midway between the ends of the holder, and the releasableclamping means is in the form of a screw which is threadedly received inthe tapped hole and projects diametrically into the interior of theholder.